“What are you doing in Wildwood Valley, Joy Hayward?”
I picked up a fry. I didn’t pick up my phone. It had been face-down on the counter for ten minutes now and I hadn’t once looked at it. I was extremely aware of that.
“I’m an outdoor influencer,” I said. “I’m here doing content for a technical apparel brand.”
“Okay.”
That was all he said. Okay. He didn’t ask how many followers I had. He didn’t ask which brand. He didn’t ask if he might have seen me online. He didn’t saycoolin the tone men use when they meanwhat does that actually mean.
He said okay and waited.
“I’m camping at Laurel Creek,” I said. “I just got set up this afternoon.”
“You set up by yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Figured.”
He didn’t make it a compliment. It was an observation.Figured. He’d looked at me and already known I had set up the tent by myself. My chest went warm anyway.
My phone buzzed on the counter.
I dropped my gaze to it. The screen was face-down. I did not flip it over. I let it buzz against the laminate while I picked up my burger and took a bite. Spencer watched me not flip it over with a look on his face that I couldn’t entirely read.
I chewed. I swallowed. I took a sip of my seltzer.
“You’re not going to answer it?” he said.
“No.”
“Okay.”
He drank from his beer. He set it down. The dart corner behind him had moved on without him. Someone else was up. Thethud, thud, thudbehind him meant someone else was throwing. He didn’t look back.
“You eating here tomorrow night too?” he asked.
“Maybe.”
“I’ll be here.”
He stood up. He did not push the stool back in. He left it where it was, half-turned toward mine, like he was planning to come back to it. He looked down at me one more time.
“Welcome to Wildwood Valley, Joy Hayward.”
Then he walked back to the boards.
2
SPENCER
Frank held out my darts when I walked back to the corner. I took them without looking at him and stepped to the line.
I missed the next throw.
I never miss that throw. It’s a setup dart, a warmup, something I’ve put into the same spot on the board ten thousand times since I was nineteen, and I sent it straight into the wire at the top of the twenty.
Frank started laughing before the dart finished rolling. “Kirk.”
